1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of garden hose support and storage devices.
2. Description of Prior Art
Everyone who has had experience with garden hoses is familiar with the problem of how to store them to avoid the formation of kinks that would eventually shut of or at least diminish water flow through the hose, as well as how to move them out of the way of children and others who might trip on them and thus expose themselves to perhaps serious injury. Winding the hose into a circular heap, after use, might reduce these risks, and is certainly a better option than loosely draping it over the faucet or its water supply pipe. However, most people do not possess the requisite skillxe2x80x94not to mention the patience and disciplinexe2x80x94to retrieve the hose and carefully feed it into a neatly-defined circular heap in a safe place, every time it is used. Thus, in the ordinary situation, the hose is left where it lies, as a hazard to itself and to those who pass over it.
It is well known that one way to solve both of these problems is to provide some means whereby the hose can be collected up easily and wound around a support device having wheels and other hardware to permit its easy movement to a storage location or to faucets in various locations, to which it may be selectively connected for watering purposes. Many of these hose carts are available commercially, and they serve their purpose reasonably well. However, they can be unnecessarily heavy, cumbersome and expensive if used in a context where the hose does not often need to be relocated.
An alternative, where a single faucet is normally utilized, with relatively infrequent detachment and movement of the hose, is to provide a support structure than can be attached to a wall near that faucet. Such a structure would preferably be cylindrical in shape, or at least possess a curved upper surface, so that the hose could be wound smoothly around its periphery, or the circular portion of its periphery, to prevent the formation of kinks. This type of structure, which is likewise commercially available, is a relatively inexpensive and efficient alternative to simply draping the hose over and/or around the vertical faucet water supply pipe. Indeed, some of the better devices in this category are provided with openings that can be fitted over bolts or other projections in the wall, so that the hose support can be lifted up and secured onto those projections, and later easily removed for placement at another location fitted with similarly spaced projections.
One such hose support device is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the Drawing, and is typical of the products on the market. This particular design will be discussed in more detail, in connection with the ensuing discussion of the preferred embodiments of the invention. Suffice to say that in order to fabricate such a device, a plurality of elements must be manufactured and then attached to form the finished product. Such a manufacturing process requires a considerable amount of labor, not to mention storage and inventorying of parts. This, of course, increases the ultimate cost of the device to the consumer.
What is needed, then, is a relatively simple hose support device that can easily be attached to a wall or other structure to minimize the hazard of injury by tripping, which can support a hose in a natural configuration to avoid kinking, which is structurally sound enough to support a considerable length of hose over a lengthy period of service, and which can be fabricated as a unitary device, in a simple operation requiring a minimum of hands-on labor.
The invention is a hose support whose principal bearing surface is configured essentially as a curved rectangle, with at least one apertured attachment tab projecting normally from one of the longer sides of the rectangular region and at least a pair of restraining tabs projecting from the opposite side of the bearing surface. Strengthening dimples are imposed into the portion of each restraining tab where they join the bearing surface. The entire structure is unitary, and is fabricated from a single piece of metal or other suitable material by means of a two-stage die, the first stage cutting the blank from sheet metal and the second stage pressing the blank into the finished structure. In some embodiments, the bearing surface is corrugated for added strength, these rib stiffeners being added as a part of the second stage forming process.